News

News

27.11.2017

Low growth is the biggest news from the Budget

The Budget was very much of the whimper not a bang variety. The big news or at least the news Chancellor Philip Hammond would like you to concentrate on is that stamp duty is to be scrapped for first time buyers on the first £300,000 in properties up to £500,000 as Mortgage Strategy reports.

The Budget did not have much personal finance in it but the lifetime allowance has risen by CPI to £1,030,000 which could save the better off as much as £16,000 in tax.

The data suggests that few investors will benefit from the doubling of the EIS limit to £2m. Buy-to-let investors may be face a long term penalty due to the planned indexation allowance freeze which the Telegraph discusses.

With-profits policy holders may also be hit by a change in the way a tax applies to with profits. Currently, they only pay tax on returns above inflation but that will no longer apply. The long term take could be £1.8bn. Will insurers take it on the chin or at least the balance sheet?

It certainly meets the definition of a stealth tax.

The big story of the Budget may well be cuts to the Office for Budget Responsibility's UK growth forecasts – to just 1.4% on average for the next five years as Thisismoney points out. In the Daily Mirror, the Institute for Fiscal Studies says we will be worse off with higher debt for longer.

Mick McAteer discusses his next project with Money Marketing, Consultancy 3R Insights, which will work with companies to monitor the culture of an organisation at all tiers of management.

He argues that pension freedoms will undermine the success of auto-enrolment.

Fidelity is to shut its Tonbridge office. It is also moving some 100 staff to Dublin but says it is not Brexit-related.

A complicated tale continues to be complicated. The EEA continues to pay out to investors in its life settlements fund despite being subject to legal action from a prospective buyer.

Members of the British Steel Pension Scheme have a couple of weeks to find a reputable IFA to help decide whether to transfer from BSPS, join the currently on offer alternative scheme or join the PFF. Many IFAs are closing to any new transfer business.

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